TEMPE, Ariz. – The failure to attack a zone with zest surfaced yet again, and a big-time deficit existed again as well, but so did UCLA’s most enduring quality – poise. And this time it came while facing a potentially nationally embarrassing moment.

On the verge of losing to what may become the worst team in Pacific-10 Conference history, the Bruins finally found their defensive prowess and offensive aggression.

It took an 18-2 run late in the second half and perfect free-throw shooting in the final minute, but the fifth-ranked Bruins survived to reclaim sole possession of first place with a 67-61 defeat of hapless Arizona State in front of 8,071 Thursday at Wells Fargo Arena.

Arron Afflalo led UCLA (22-3, 11-2 Pac-10) with 24 points and Darren Collison returned from a one-game absence with a left shoulder injury to score 18.

However, the rest of the Bruins combined for 25 points, and power forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, who played with blurred vision after being elbow in the right eye in the first half, was scoreless for the first time in his career.

Indeed, moving a half-game ahead of Washington State (22-4, 11-3) in the conference standings proved to be much more trying for a UCLA squad that continues to have difficulty against zone defenses.

“We’re not hitting the high post sometimes when we’re open,” UCLA coach Ben Howland said. “We’re hesitant and tentative, at times, to do that. We can’t be like that.

“We have to be not afraid to make mistakes against the zone. It’s like we’re playing on our heels a little bit, and you can’t play like that. You have to play aggressively at both ends.”

The Bruins won, but that it took such a rally to beat Arizona State is reason for concern. The Sun Devils (6-19, 0-14) have lost 15 straight and are on the verge of becoming the first team to finish Pac-10 play without a win. ASU has already matched the worst start by a team since the Pac-10 expanded to 10 teams in 1978-79 and can be the first to fall to 0-15 with a loss Sunday to USC.

So when UCLA trailed 49-39 after Antwi Atuahene’s layup with 10:58 to play, it was alarming.

“We weren’t particularly playing great defense and we have to do a little bit better job of how we attack the zone,” Afflalo said. “(Defense) is supposed to be our M.O. We have to get rid of those lapses. I can’t pinpoint it for you, but it’s getting pretty late in the season, and (it is) an important part of the season where we’re playing for something. We need to focus.”

After ASU took its 10-point lead, UCLA clamped down.ASU’s next field goal came with 44.9 seconds remaining, a banked-in 3-pointer by Christian Polk.

Between Atuahene’s basket and Polk’s 3-pointer, the Sun Devils were done in by their own incompetence of ill-advised or rushed shots, failures to recognized mismatches (like Collison guarding center Jeff Pendergraph, who led ASU with 14 points) and silly fouls away from the basket.

After playing hesitantly against ASU’s matchup 2-3 zone, Collison began penetrating better and UCLA’s ball movement improved. The urgency also surfaced, and was evident when Josh Shipp sparked the Bruins’ rally with an offensive rebound and dunk off Alfred Aboya’s missed foul shot.

Collison followed with a pair of 3-pointers, and he gave the Bruins a 51-50 lead with a nifty off-balance floater in the lane with 5:52 to play. Afflalo finished the run with a 3-pointer as UCLA went ahead 57-51 with 4:12 to play.

Afflalo and Shipp then went 10 for 10 from the free throw line in the last 54.1 seconds to ice the victory.

“What got us going was Josh’s dunk,” Collison said. “We started to feed off of that. We just felt energized after that play.”

But it wasn’t easy, and Mbah a Moute’s right eye was the evidence of how trying this win became. He was elbowed by Pendergraph in the first half, played with blurred vision the rest of the way and sported an abrasion below the eye afterward.

“It’s very blurry,” said Mbah a Moute, who went 0 for 6 in 34 minutes. “I just saw the doctor and he said it’s going to be blurry for a little bit and by (today) it should be fine. So I’ll just have to wait. I see blurry. It’s very fuzzy.”